US Vegan 7 weeks

Jeff Bergman

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Feb 17, 2021
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Age
69
Location
The villages Florida
Lifestyle
  1. Vegan
I started a plant based woe about 7 weeks ago. I feel great both energy wise and mentally. The only thing that I am concerned about is my fasting blood glucose is around 130 most days. My weight is stable but I would love to lose about 20 pounds. I just did a blood test to see if my numbers changed. Waiting for the results.
When I did a keto diet my blood glucose was lower, but I always felt anxious and angry. It's not sustainable.
 
I started a plant based woe about 7 weeks ago. I feel great both energy wise and mentally. The only thing that I am concerned about is my fasting blood glucose is around 130 most days. My weight is stable but I would love to lose about 20 pounds. I just did a blood test to see if my numbers changed. Waiting for the results.
When I did a keto diet my blood glucose was lower, but I always felt anxious and angry. It's not sustainable.
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Hi Jeff, and welcome to the forum.

If your fasting blood glucose is consistently this high, it's likely that you have type 2 diabetes: Diabetes - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic. Even your previously, slightly lower blood glucose level was likely indicative of pre-diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association has stated that properly-planned vegetarian/vegan diets can be part of an effective treatment for diabetes: https://www.diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/ADV_2019_Consumer_Nutrition_One Pager.pdf and http://main.diabetes.org/dorg/PDFs/...-best_foods-American_Diabetes_Association.pdf

Because you are managing a potentially life-threatening disease, it would be a good idea to plan your diet with a help of a Registered Dietitian - your physician can refer you to one. You can even request an RD that includes vegetarian nutrition as a specialty.
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Hi Jeff, and welcome to the forum.

If your fasting blood glucose is consistently this high, it's likely that you have type 2 diabetes: Diabetes - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic. Even your previously, slightly lower blood glucose level was likely indicative of pre-diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association has stated that properly-planned vegetarian/vegan diets can be part of an effective treatment for diabetes: https://www.diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/ADV_2019_Consumer_Nutrition_One Pager.pdf and http://main.diabetes.org/dorg/PDFs/...-best_foods-American_Diabetes_Association.pdf

Because you are managing a potentially life-threatening disease, it would be a good idea to plan your diet with a help of a Registered Dietitian - your physician can refer you to one. You can even request an RD that includes vegetarian nutrition as a specialty.
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Thanks. Looks like I've been eating too many starches. Unfortunately that's what I love.
 
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Thanks. Looks like I've been eating too many starches. Unfortunately that's what I love.
That is not a given.

Its that highly processed grains that need to be restricted. That being said, most Americans eat too many grains. the basic recommendation is to keep it under 3 servings a day. However a bagel in the morning, a sandwich at lunch and pasta at dinner is 5 - 6 servings.

It just takes a little re-thinking.

BTW, I think KETO is one of the stupidest diets there is. Even the authors of KETO books say that the diet is not sustainable. So I'm glad you dropped that.

I don't think good nutrition is rocket science and you probably don't NEED an RD. However, ask your doctor. If he refers you to one, your health care provider may pay for the whole thing or at least a good portion. Even the health care system understands that its cheaper to pay for a couple sessions at an RD than for insulin for the rest of your life (and open heart surgery)

In the meantime, you might want to pick up a book on Whole Food Plant Based diets. There are a lot of good books. They are all basically the same but just have a little different twist to separate them from the pack.

Since you are concerned about blood sugar - you may want to pick up a book by Dr. Greger. He even has a book titled How Not to Die From Diabetes.

Below is a little video on the research.

Oh btw, like half the people here are Floridians. I don't know why. welcome. I even have been to the village. My parents retired to Florida a long time ago and I used to visit them.



https://nutritionfacts.org/2019/10/08/how-not-to-die-from-diabetes/

 
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What I meant by starches are pasta, bread, and granola. My typical day is breakfast a little granola with banana and blueberries with oat milk, lunch quinoa with roasted vegetables, dinner pasta with beans broccoli and either pesto or tomato sauce. I do snack usually a slice of bread with almond butter and banana. I drink mainly club soda with a little orange juice.
 
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What I meant by starches are pasta, bread, and granola. My typical day is breakfast a little granola with banana and blueberries with oat milk, lunch quinoa with roasted vegetables, dinner pasta with beans broccoli and either pesto or tomato sauce. I do snack usually a slice of bread with almond butter and banana. I drink mainly club soda with a little orange juice.

welcome to the forum Jeff

I am a 'starchivore' vegan so, as David says, please don't be so concerned about starches/carbs. The more likely culprit of your excess weight and high blood sugar levels is oils/fats. We all need fat in our diet, however, excess fats like oils on your roasted vegetables or in your pesto etc, builds up in our cells and blocks the insulin from doing it's work.

There is a lot of information out there, Dr Greger, as Lou suggests, also Dr Neal Barnard, Dr McDougall, Dr Esselstyn etc.

If you were doing keto, in the recent past, it is possible that a lot of fats have built up in your cells and so flushing those out with lots of fibre rich whole foods may bring those sugar levels down. Have the bread, not the butter. Have the vegetables, not the oils on them. Until you bring your weight down you may wish to also consider limiting your nut butters and eat a small handfull of nuts themselves instead.

congrats on your decision to be vegan and we are here to support you and look forward to following your journey

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
What I meant by starches are pasta, bread, and granola. My typical day is breakfast a little granola with banana and blueberries with oat milk, lunch quinoa with roasted vegetables, dinner pasta with beans broccoli and either pesto or tomato sauce. I do snack usually a slice of bread with almond butter and banana. I drink mainly club soda with a little orange juice.
That sounds great!
 
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I started a plant based woe about 7 weeks ago. I feel great both energy wise and mentally. The only thing that I am concerned about is my fasting blood glucose is around 130 most days. My weight is stable but I would love to lose about 20 pounds. I just did a blood test to see if my numbers changed. Waiting for the results.
When I did a keto diet my blood glucose was lower, but I always felt anxious and angry. It's not sustainable.


This might of interest to you. The Mastering Diabetes Diet.

Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics have had some pretty good results. Apparently, insulin resistance can be caused by fat and oil in your diet. This is a vegan diet that is fat free and specifically for diabetics

I found it interesting, even though I am not diabetic. My mother and grandmother were diabetic, so I do have concerns about the future. I got the book from the library.




 
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